Conestoga’s fully equipped podcast studio is an exciting avenue to enhance learning at the college, including two podcast series sharing insights on teaching and career paths.
Podcasts are recorded in Conestoga's fully equipped studio.
Now in production is Let’s Talk Careers, a podcast hosted by career development professors at Conestoga that explores people’s unique paths to success. The target audience is students, who will hear that every career journey is unique and they don’t need to follow a certain route.
Recording starts soon on the second season of My Favourite Lesson, which is a podcast by Teaching & Learning intended for faculty where experienced faculty share their favourite lesson and tactics to keep students engaged.
The studio, located in the college’s administrative building at 3065 King St. East in Kitchener and managed by the Online Learning Centre’s Media & Design Services, can record both audio-only and video podcasts.
In My Favourite Lesson, Teaching & Learning consultant Lauren Spring has conversations with professors about one lesson they always look forward to teaching.
“One of the main goals of this podcast is to share expertise and help faculty at Conestoga College become more aware of what and how their colleagues are teaching across different disciplines, programs, and campuses,” Spring said. “I felt so fortunate and grateful to be able to work with the Conestoga media team and draw on college media resources to realize this project.”
Being in the professional recording studio with support of the media team allowed Spring to focus on the conversation with each week’s guest, and not worry about all the technical aspects. Guidance from media producer Jake Morris also helped improve the podcast from its original inception.
“While I had a certain vision for the project going into it, it was also amazing to see how it evolved over time with Jake's guidance and ideas,” Spring said. “Each and every faculty member participant reported back to us that they felt very comfortable in the space, and really enjoyed the experience.”
The first season has 15 episodes; the second will focus more specifically on teaching difficult subjects.
Lisa Bauman, Career Development professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, is also pleased to be working with the team to produce the podcast she pitched to Media Services last fall to showcase “informational interviews” and the twists and turns of people’s careers.
“Along with a team of two other podcast hosts, working with the Online Learning Centre has allowed us to reach a wider audience, model the approach with students in our classroom, and create a catalogue of videos that can be turned into an open educational resource,” Bauman said.
Let’s Talk Careers explores the career paths of those in a variety of industries including nursing, post-secondary, business, teaching and trades. Guests share where they are in their careers, decisions they’ve made, how they navigated the ups and downs along the way, and advice for students to take with them on their career journeys.
People interviewed include Conestoga employees Shawn Brake, Kathryn Brillinger, Laura Black, and more. The first couple of episodes are out now and can be found on YouTube and Spotify.
Other podcasts include Reading and Writing Between the Lines, highlighting the importance of communication in the workplace and hosted by professor Jon Whitzman, and coming soon the Talent Hub Alumni Podcast, and the Open Access Teaching Case Journal Podcast hosted by Jane Gravill with special insights on teaching cases in this one-off episode set to launch later this year.
The studio is outfitted with all the equipment needed and specially skilled staff to produce high-quality podcasts.
“The Online Learning Centre’s Media & Design Services team is a team of highly skilled creatives who produce best-in-class media experiences for the college community,” Morris said. “It’s a very exciting space. So much happens in here. It’s such an amazing tool for faculty to use because you have a professional team backing you.”
Contact Conestoga's Media & Design Services team at mediaservices@conestogac.on.ca.